Interpreting Events I find it continually fascinating how many believers insist on Interpreting Events in ways that have God acting in their best interest and/or in ways that show themselves in the most positive light. For example, a believer loses their job. And their interpretation is: Clearly God has something better for me. He is moving me on to something better. He closed this door to open a better door. It could be, however, that the company was simply downsizing. It could even be that the believer was not a skilled or faithful, hard worker employee. But heaven forbid that this event be interpreted in any other way except a way that shows God at work and the believer in the best possible light. Or a believer gets into a friendship relationship with someone else who is actually very rude, hard to get along with, and irritating. And their interpretation is: I guess God sent this person to me to teach me love and patience. It could be, however, that the Lord had actually tried to warn this believer to stay away from this rude person. It could also be that the believer simply crossed paths with this person, struck up a friendship that grew, but didnt realize the true character of this person till later. But heaven forbid that this situation be interpreted in any other way except a way that showed God at work seeking to bring development to the believer. Or, a church begins to shrink in size. And the interpretation is: Clearly God is purging out the chaff. Or, We preach such a pure and strong message here, people cant handle it. It could be, however, that the church is shrinking in size because jobs are moving to other places. It could be, as well, that the church is sinking because the believers there are unaccepting. It could be, as well, that the leadership is unskilled, isnt offering good ministry, or has treated people in such a rude way that they decided to leave. But heaven forbid that a church shrinking in size could be interpreted in any other way except that God is at work to bring about His greater will or that the other people just cant handle truth or the pure Word of God. Friends, sometimes we need to realize that the situations in our lives have a lot to do with ourselves — how we live, how we speak, how we treat others, how we work or dont work, what decisions we have made. The situations in our lives arent always God specially working in ways we dont understand. Lets not be so quick to assign God responsibility. And lets not be so averse to seeing ourselves in an Honest Light rather than always in the Best Light for ourselves. We wont grow and we wont change if we never interpret the events in our lives to have anything to do with ourselves.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 01:58:58 +0000
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